I think sometimes when you put up a question relevant to every members book routine, a quick (minimum thought) answer isn't always possible --and so you sometimes don't get any response at all.

I have very few books sitting horizontally; I don't have too many doubled up either. The order & layout for me (presently) is about preserving condition e.g. most red (or anything close to red) are turned jacket spine in; some have facing books (irrelevant, non collection books) in front of them too. I have big books with big books; small with small. I tend to arrange by title; and by date within those categories. Although, all the recent deluxe styles are together for some reason. With the shelving courtesy of Ikea, some elements of arrangement are driven by how bowed the shelves are becoming too... & so one could rabbit on...

BH

Posted on: 2011/1/24 13:15

_________________You drive a hard bargain – you can have it for £10 all-in – one consolation (for you) is that you do not have to hear the cries of my children, for bread...

Thanks for the question loonka and making sure it didn't die on the vine, Khamul.

There are a few main factors in how my books are arranged:

My house layout drives a particular arrangement: I have barrister shelves (antique, glass door, modular, way oversized) in the bedroom, where the windows and curtains are never opened. The oversized books as well as anything valuable and/or sensitive to light go here.

The living room has the bulk of my shelving, but it also has a huge skylight. While UV protection is available, I don't trust it to be 100% effective, so more of the reading copies or books that move in and out quickly go here.

All in all, they are arranged mostly by size and time they were aquired. I don't move everything around to fit additional HoME books into the same section, for example, they just go where there is currently significant space. I am sure anyone not me is very frustrated when trying to find any particular book.

They are also arranged by size as much as possible, as Khamul notes. It is important to not have very tall and very short books shelved right next to each other, as you can get leaning or worse from the uneven support.